Boell Talks - Conflict Transformation

hbs Tbilisi Office hosted the public lecture by H.E. Hubert Knirsch, German Ambassador to Georgia "Germany and the regional conflicts in Georgia".

Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung Tbilisi Office - South Caucasus Region organized the public debate "Russia’s hybrid warfare in Ukraine and Georgia". 

There are five potential solutions to the problem of Ukraine's, Georgia's, Moldova's and Azerbaijan's current location in a security-political nowhere-land. They include a Western-Russian grand bargain, NATO accession, EU membership, US security guarantees, and the Intermarium. Yet, none of these models has so far materialized. Why is that the case?

Taking the Long View: Georgia’s Conflicts in an International Context is a Public Lecture by Thomas De Waal, that took place on January 10, 2019, at HBS Tbilisi Office - South Caucasus Region.

On May 27th, 2016, Auditorium #115 (I. Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University) hosted Attila Melegh's Public Lecture The Defense of Internal and External Borders: Political Discourses and Key Elements of the Refugee Crisis.

On November 20, 2015, the Heinrich Boell Foundation hosted public debate Armenian-Georgian Cooperation on the Edges of Contradicting Political Projects. Here we present video of the event.

What is the new political reality, and what does peaceful transformation imply? What are the most important problems of the Geneva process?

What hinders resolution of the conflicts in the South Caucasus, especially since there is no fundamental problem of ethnic tension between individuals? Thomas de Waal, Senior Fellow at Carnegie Endowment for International Peace states that the people involved in the conflict have nothing against each other.

On 3rd and 4th of June, 2012 within the frameworks of the project “Empowering Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the Parliamentary Election Context”, initiated by the South Caucasus Regional Office of the Heinrich Boell Foundation, two roundtable discussions were held in Poti and Tskaltubo. The goal of the initiated project is to promote and strengthen the civil activism and participation of IDPs in political processes and encourage political parties to integrate into their party programs the issues important and crucial for IDPs.

Public discourse on the issue of IDP integration in characterized by various attitudes – IDPs themselves often consider integration as a factor hindering return to their homes and are less likely to view this process as a positive change either for them or for a wider societal life. For that reason, there exists diversity of approaches while defining the term “integration.”

The issue of the integration of internally displaced persons (IDPs) into local communities is still problematic for our country. The lack of integration is the issue not only for an older generation of IDPs from Abkhazia and South Ossetia, but also for those born in displacement. New generations of IDPs also suffer from this problem.

After almost two decades of the ethnic conflicts in the breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, the legacy of the displacement remains a reality for 246,000 internally displaced people in Georgia. The number of internally displaced population is substantial for a small country like Georgia, comprising 6% of the total population.

On 20 October 2010, the Heinrich Boell Foundation hosted a public debate about the current situation in the Northern Caucasus and its possible influence on the security and stability of Georgia.

The Georgian and the Abkhaz youth have very limited opportunities to meet and interact with each other. Occasionally, with the support of various international organizations working on the conflict in the breakaway regions of Georgia, meetings and forums between the Georgian and the Abkhaz youth take place.

On 2 June 2010, the HBS invited experts, representatives of non-governmental organizations, political parties and interested individuals for a debate on the theme of “The Georgian-Russian Relations: Perspectives for Restoring the Dialogue”.

Within the framework of the project “IDP Public Debates” the Heinrich Boell Foundation organized the series of public discussions for the community of IDPs in Gori, Tskaltubo and Zugdidi. The topic of discussions for all three debates was: “Local Self-Government, Upcoming Local Elections and IDPs – accountability, responsibility and participation”.

“If Poland becomes a member of NATO, there will be nuclear war.” A Russian general delivered that warning to Ronald D. Asmus in the 1990s, on just his third day in the job of advancing the Clinton administration’s policy of NATO enlargement. When Asmus spoke on a panel at the HBF on April 15, 2010, he did not reveal how he answered his pugnacious counterpart. Diplomatically, he also left the general unnamed.

A packed house greeted the first major public discussion in Georgia about the Tagliavini Report since it was issued. The standing-room-only crowd on November 11, 2009, numbered more than 100 Georgian citizens, joined by numerous members of the international community.

Vakho and Teo, the main heroes of this documentary are twenty-something university graduates from the Georgian capital, Tbilisi.  Born as the Soviet Union collapsed, they've grown up in the shadow of the wars that tore their country apart in the early nineteen nineties. They're too young to remember the fighting, but like everyone from their generation, their lives have been shaped by the legacy of the violence.